Marshall White director John Bongiorno said price growth in the $1 million to $5 million residential segment was “plateauing” in the wake of the January share market correction and easing demand from Chinese buyers.

“The bullishness that was in the market last year hasn’t carried through to this year,” he said.

“Although today is a very big auction day, if you compare the overall number of properties on the market this year with last year, we are well down on the numbers. If we had a lot more supply I think the market would be a very different proposition.”

Sold: 26 Linda Crescent, Hawthorn.

The 2015 market was turbo-charged by two official interest rate cuts during the year. The outlook for further rate cuts this year is at best uncertain. The prices that people pay for properties are also being constrained by Australia’s current low level of wages growth and tighter bank lending practices.

Domain Group senior economist Andrew Wilson expects autumn auction listings in Melbourne this year will be down on 2015 autumn figures.

He said higher auction numbers reflected the confidence levels of the market generally and worked to push up prices. By contrast, when auction listings fell over a sustained period, it put a brake on price growth.

Sold: 13 Shaftesbury Parade, Thornbury.

“The sellers, especially investors, won’t engage the marketplace when they perceive that prices are falling,” he said. “They’ll just sit on the sidelines.”

Agents report that many properties are just getting over the line and fetching prices at or slightly above reserve. But there were also some very upbeat results on Saturday.

A large Federation house in need of a full renovation at 26 Linda Crescent, Hawthorn, brought home the bacon for Jellis Craig. The 1300-square-metre property drew four bidders, was on the market at $4.2 million and sold for $5 million, $800,000 above reserve.

Buyer advocate Greville Pabst, of the WBP Group, said a new suburb price record in Thornbury was set when a renovated four-bedroom period residence at 13 Shaftesbury Parade was sold under heavy competition for $1,945,000 by Nelson Alexander. The previous house price record was $1,830,000.

Mr Pabst said growth in 2016 would come from quality houses, with the apartment market likely to see little or no growth.

“There is an acute shortage of family homes and that is going to drive house prices this year, particularly in the north and the west.

“You can still buy a house in the northern and western suburbs that’s close to infrastructure for under $1 million. You can’t do that in the bayside or the inner east.”

Due to the Easter break, the market will pause next weekend. Only 24 auctions are scheduled.